StandingWater Creations

Well, I have a few minutes and I was looking at the current slate of presidential candidates. No one, that I am aware of, has announced an independent bid for President, yet; but that doesn’t mean it won’t be coming down the pipe. Especially since this current turn of presidential candidates is happening earlier, this time, than it did last time; and earlier last time than it did the time before. We are a nation divided by politics and I am still a citizen who would rather see white states than RED or BLUE or whatever other colors the pundits and talking heads decide to name things.

Anyway, Hillary Rodham Clinton is the leading Democrat contender. Go figure. Seems to me the lady claimed she wasn’t going to run for president. At least, not this go round, and yet, there she is. Running for president. She’s got the war chest to end all war chests, allegedly, and has been giving money to other Democrats and their campaigns for a few years now. The outcome, she’s got a lot of establishment (Democrat) support.

Gotta be honest, here, I don’t think she has a chance in HELL of being president. Sure, she’s been successful in New York City in becoming one of the State Senators; but, really, she’s not the most approachable candidate. Sure, sure, you say that she is a candidate and she has an early lead on the other candidates, to include Obama, but does that matter. We have to vote for whomever the establishment gives us and that means Hillary and Obama and yet… at least for the Democrat side of things, and yet… I wouldn’t vote for either one.

We could step back to my issue with Kerry in the last election; which was why G.W. got my vote; but the truth is that this is a different ballpark and it doesn’t matter (to me) whether or not either candidate runs – they don’t have my vote. With that, if Hillary were to run she would actually, probably, get me to actively campaign for whomever the leading Republican candidate is simply because I think she is as close to being evil incarnate as they come.

In case you missed it: I DON’T LIKE HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON!!!

And I am not fond of Barack Obama either.

Maybe it is my conservative principles going on. Maybe it’s because, when I read their platforms (if they have one) I don’t agree with the direction they are trying to take the country. With Hillary, she (and her campaign staff and the rest of the world) would be hard pressed to convince me that she’s not going to push for another round of Health Care Reforms and trying to socialize medicine in the United States.

Yes, I think people need health care. No, I don’t think it’s the government’s responsibility or obligation to provide that for people.

With that said, I’m not exactly fond of the Republican candidates either. I mean, look at the top three candidates. You have Rudi Giuliani, John McCain, and Mitt Romney. I think the idea of Giuliani is good; but the reality is bad. He was the hero of 9/11, was knighted by the Queen of England; and claims he hates to leave Manhattan. He’s a Yankees fan, which I have no problem with (even having lived around Boston and definitely in Red Sox territory for their World Series win); and I enjoy the trips I’ve made to New York City and all that the city has to offer.

However, I don’t know that Giuliani offers the nation what it needs right now. He is, in my mind, akin to Hillary and Obama in their approach to politics. To liberal for what I think and feel the country needs to be going in. I don’t believe we need to say, “Tomorrow we are done in Iraq,” and pull out all of the troops leaving the country to wallow in its own filth; and at the same time I don’t think we, as a nation, need the burden of Iraq and should pull out sooner than later. I think the Democrats have it right to specify a deadline (in ’08) that the U.S. should be out of that country.

Afghanistan, however, needs to be a deployment zone and we should be pursuing the reason(s) behind our being in this pseudo war. We should be pursuing Bin Laden and doing it again and again and again until the man is either captured, dead, or too scared to come out of hiding ever. His terror network and base of operations should be destroyed and destroyed when rebuilt, and destroyed again. Our military should be aggressive in the attack; hit him, hit him again, and hit him again and again and again.

We need to follow our original obligation and make the world safer. Iraq does not do that. Pulling out will force the region to stabilize Iraq where, now, we are fighting a massive insurgency. The insurgency is going to win. All we are going to do is lose more and more men (and women) and, truthfully, hurt our relations with our allies.

What Giuliani does not, on the surface, allow for an incoming international diplomat that can fix G.W.’s problems. Neither does Hillary or Obama. Which leads to:

John McCain. Here’s a perennial candidate. He’s the girl that always goes to the ball and never goes home with anyone. He’s always a bridesmaid and never a bride. I don’t think he will be president either. Ever. Ever, ever.

Really. I think he’s a bad guy. I think in the long run he will prove to be a bad person. I don’t care, one wit, whether he has served, and well, in the military. I don’t care. Truth told, when you vote for McCain you are voting for someone who is like Hillary and Obama. He’s a face people recognize and a voice people tend to listen to; but when it comes down to his politics I think he’s more Democrat and less Republican. Really! He’s the guy who could put on either political hat and be … well … identical.

And then we see Mitt Romney. Mormon. Ex-governor of Massachusetts. Mormon., CEO of the Salt Lake Olympics Committee. A man, on principle, I should like and yet don’t trust. There’s something about Mitt that I just don’t like and the notion that he’s running for president doesn’t make him any better in my eyes. The truth is I think Mitt is a bad choice for president and I think, when it comes down to it, he is the Party choice for president. Sure, sure, he’s not at the top of his game yet, he’s not the front-runner, but I think he will be.

This is why, I believe, Vice President Dick Cheney is coming to BYU to speak for commencement. One professor (that I have) indicated that BYU had asked him to come. When we discussed it (debated it really) he said that BYU had asked President Bush to come. When G.W. turned down BYU Dick Cheney’s office called to see if they would be interested in his coming. BYU said, “Sure,” effectively and then there was the protest against what Cheney stands for rather than his coming.

Another professor indicated that G.W. had been asked, two years ago, to come and turned the school down. This year Cheney’s office called and BYU accepted. This same professor indicated that his opinion of the approval for the protest was to separate the church and the school from the Republican Party. Members of the church are conservative and, as such, lean toward the Republicans. However, the LDS church is not a Republican organization, has no affiliation with the Republican Party, and it makes sense to distance themselves from the party and the vice president.

Cheney, however, is coming to BYU, in my opinion, to help circle the wagons and build support for the preferred candidate – Mitt. That party is going to throw, slowly, their support behind the man. Before the end of the summer G.W. will throw his support in that direction.

This, however, is just my opinion based off what is going on in the country and world today.

I don’t like the candidate pool; however, who do I vote for when the time comes to vote? I know that I will not vote Hillary or Obama or McCain; but, then, that decision hasn’t been as yet and I don’t have to decide today.

John Hattaway | smokingpen | Alicia Grey | Denny Crane | Bond. James Bond